The State of Union City Schools, 1973

The State of Union City Schools, 1973Union City Times-Leader, 1973Union City traces it school history as far back as the early 1800s. In those days the first schools in the area were kept in private houses and supported by subscription.William Craig taught one of the earliest schools in Union Township during the War of 1812 in a house that Thomas McElhany had vacated. Tradition has it that Susanna Pain taught the next school during the summer of 1815, in a log cabin that Hugh Wilson built.Early documents seem to record that the first successful school house was built around 1820 on High Street. The building stood for many years and functioned as a school house, meeting house, and a place to hold elections.Starting in the mid 1800s, many one room school houses sprang up in Union Township. Many pioneers remembered the “good old days” at the country schools where one tacher taught all subjects to all eight grades. One teacher had to teach a schoolhouse full of students , carry her own wood and coal, build her own fires and bank them at night, and arrive at school early enough to warm up the building for her students. She also had to sweep out the school each night.In 1918, the state of Pennsylvania set the maximum salary for one room school house teachers at $45.00 a month.The High School building on Main Street was built in 1904, with additions of an auditorium and several classrooms in 1936.Many schools were established during the 1800s. Rileys or Mitchell School burned in May 1918. Wilson, Sherwood, Horton, Emerson, Shreve, Thompson, Fenno, Kimball Hill, Smith, Howard, and Bentley schools were closed and were consolidated into the Hatch Hill, South Main, and Old Brick Schools during the mid 1940s.Hatch Hill, Old Brick, and South Main Schools were closed for consolidation in the former High School building on Main Street. Construction began in 1952 on the new Jr.-Sr. High School on Concord Street with the dedication ceremony being held on January 25, 1954. In 1954, the high school students entered the new Jr-Sr. High School on Concord Street.The new building featured a radically zoned plant to isolate noisy areas from the quiet ones, permit use of several specialized areas such as shops as independent units with separate access from outside, and permit expansion of facilities in the future without conflict.Classrooms were among the first of their type in the East. There were 24 classrooms as well as a library of 7,500 volumes, a cafeteria, typing room, agriculture room, auditorium, gymnasium and home economics rooms. At the time of planning, 490 pupils were anticipated, but the number of pupils at school opening was 530. The total cost was $803,343.South Main School was reopened in September 1956, with the 6thgraders using the building for one more year. It was later used for storage only and closed again in the summer of 1961 when the new Concord Elementary School was ready for occupancy. It was finally torn down in 1966 or 1967 by Carl Thomas, with some of the materials being used in the construction of the new Thomas market. The vacant site now serves as a church parking lot. Both the Old Brick and Hatch Hill Schools have been torn down also.On May 28, 1958, the districts of Union City Borough, Union Township, and Bloomfield Township voted to form a joint school district and in the same year the Union City Area School Board employed an architect to design a new addition to the high school and a new elementary building.A study of enrollment led to the conclusion that the existing high school which was built to accommodate 429 pupils was now housing 560 pupils who, in the next five years, would increase to over 700 pupils, and that many of the elementary students were being housed in substandard and rented quarters.After careful study by the State Department of Education, the school board, supervising principal and architects, it was decided that a new wing should be added to the high school and that a new elementary school should be built. The most logical site for this new elementary building was on the high school plot of land which consisted of 86 acres.With economy in mind the architects managed to achieve maximum savings without sacrificing the essentials of a modern school plant. A cafeteria was carefully designed and planned so that meals could be prepared for all students in the area school district. As a further economy, a boiler room was centrally located and built of such capacity to provide sufficient heat to all of the high school wings and new elementary building. This eliminated having two complete boiler rooms.Thirteen classrooms were provided in the new elementary building. These rooms were designed by the architect after consultation with the classroom teachers. Chalfboard, bulletin board, adequate storage, and hot and cold water were provided for all of the rooms. This building also included a well designed special education classroom, administrative offices, health room, faculty room and multi purpose room.The total construction cost of the addition to the high school and the new elementary building was $995,399.Furniture, movable equipment, paving, architect fees, contingent fees and incidentals amounted to $136,239, bringing the building cost of a total of $1,131,638.An elementary building scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 1973 was an elementary building designed to house grades kindergarten though 4thgrade. Pupil capacity of the building upon completion was estimated to be 1, 120. Twenty eight classrooms were constructed. Also included in the scheduled space were three kindergarten rooms, art room, showers, cafeteria, kitchen, health room, library, faculty room and district administration offices.The new building was located on Miles Street, completely separate from the other school buildings.The Union City Area School District experienced modest growth in enrollments during the 1950s-1970s. The 1950 enrollment of 983 students for grades 1-12 increased to 1,592 at the beginning of the 1969-1970 academic years, an increase of 62 percent. Most of the increase took place from 1950 to 1960 when grade 1-12 enrollment increased 477 students as contrasted to an increase of only 132 in the 1970s.